Hooters Lindsay Has A Mother's Day Wing Deal For The Moms, Travel Ball Comedy & Did OJ Inspire Police Chase?
‘I’ll miss this place'
I want to start by sharing the story of a teenager who helped Mrs. Screencaps and I load plants into the van yesterday at the local vocational school.
Me: "Are you a junior, senior?"
Horticulture student: "I graduate tonight"
Me: "Wow, congratulations."
Horticulture student: "Thanks. I'm really going to miss this place."
That hit me like a brick wall. There I was fully expecting him to tell me he's ready to get out on the road to make money and be done with school only to have him pivot on me and look back fondly at what he'd experienced at the vocational school.
As we drove away I was left thinking this kid is going be an asset to the community and we need many, many more just like him.
Anonymous Millennial in Memphis got new short-sleeve shirts
- AMiM writes:
Anonymous Millennial from Memphis with a shirt update & 2 questions. New Poncho's shirts delivered. Got the wife's approval for "not an old man shirt" and my approval for lightweight and functionality. The durability testing will take time but initially Poncho's passes with flying colors. #notsponsored.
My son wants to play baseball in the fall. He has only played soccer to this point. As a coach, what are 2-3 foundational skills you would want an 8U player to have?
He's all in so I want to spend our summer developing a skill set that will benefit his team and him long-term. As a former rec ball player myself, my gut is telling me ground balls, throwing from multiple distances to first base, and the ability to make solid contact with a bat. Thoughts? Any input from Travel Ball Hardo Chris in Houston?
The post Thursday mow while admiring the lawn beer is second to none. What's a close second? Mine is the post mow beer while spraying out the A/C condenser 2ish times a year. Shady area, hose water splashing and misting the air all around you. An incredible way to cool down and keep that condenser working at the optimum level.
Also, I've never hear of Scheels but would love to go into a sporting goods store with that type of customer service and premium products. Coolest thing around here is a Bass Pro Shops in a giant shiny pyramid.
Kinsey:
- Play catch. Tons of catch until he's ready to go do something else. Try having him throw over the swing set. Over obstacles. Without him knowing, set up targets for him to hit. Play along. You try to hit the targets. Make it a game. Use tennis balls. Think you can hit the tree from here?
- Get a bucket of balls, throw BP, let him hammer baseballs with a good stance.
- Low stress. Play Pandora on your phone. Have a little music going.
- Since he's never played baseball, I would worry more about making it fun. The rest of the game – throwing to first base - will come later.
- Make sure to take a break and have him go get whatever he wants out of the garage fridge to drink. Let him draw up targets to hit and games you two can play with a baseball.
I get it, AMiM, you don't want your kid to go out there and be a liability. Don't sweat it. Make sure he's active, make things fun and the rest will take care of itself.
Trust me, AMiM, I recommend low stress for your kid and for your family. And don't fall for the ‘We met friends who are like family for life through travel ball’ nonsense. Trust me, travel ball families would stick a knife in another family if it meant their kid got a better opportunity.
Speaking of Chinook Seedery, I have a case of seeds I need to put in Mrs. Screencaps' van for Opening Day. I told my 12U boys I was bringing a seed buffet. They were pumped.
North Dakota is having another big Screencaps week thanks to Scheels Sporting Goods (#notsponsored…I've never, to my knowledge, communicated with a Scheels representative & Mike T. definitely doesn't work for Scheels)
- Bill in Milwaukee writes:
Hey Joe...That email from Christian was so well-timed...I am headed to Fargo tomorrow for a long weekend and the first communion of our god son...Have a 12-year-old rec league baseball player and we are definitely hitting the Roger Maris museum, Scheels, and may try to hit that brewery he mentions...Once again Screencaps helping the community!!!!
Kinsey:
There are multiple heroes this week, including Mike T. in Idaho who sent in the Top 100 Brunch Spots in the U.S. that drove a bunch of emails and then his report from the new Scheels location in Idaho.
That led to Christian's report on Scheels being a North Dakota institution.
Name another national column on the Internet that talks about North Dakota outside of politics. It's just not happening. That's the power of Screencaps. That's the power of the Screencaps readership.
- Tim in Texas City, Texas seems to be indicating he just booked a July 4th trip:
Scheels.
Mt. Rushmore.
July 4th.
This little patriotic get-a-way just booked itself.
Boy Scouts name change
- Jim in San Diego writes:
I’m up for my 30-year Scouting veteran pin from BSA-for-now – joined Pack 81 in Kettering in 2nd grade, then bridged to Troop 81. Never made Eagle – heck, never even made 1st Class – but went on lots of campouts, earned some merit badges, had a great time. Dad had been a Scout before me growing up in the 1940s, and both my sons were Scouts, as were two of our three daughters. I served as a Cubmaster, merit badge counselor, and other volunteer roles off and on for the past 25 years.
I even worked for the Boy Scouts as a field rep for seven years when the newspaper I worked at got sold and shut down. Today, I’m liaison to the Cub Scout pack my Kiwanis Club sponsors.
Given all that, you’d think I’d be all in on one side or the other of this latest change.
Mostly, I’m just sad. I fear the Boy Scouts is in a death spiral of its own making, and that future generations of kids won’t get to have those same experiences our family has.
Given all the lawsuits the BSA was facing, allowing openly gay kids to join was probably their only path to survival, as was allowing girls into the "Boy Scouts" program (we’d already had coed Venturing, Exploring and Sea Scouts programs where girls had participated for decades). Yet the hoped-for numbers of gay kids and girls in the traditional Boy Scouts program simply never materialized.
And BSA’s national leadership used unnecessarily divisive and insulting language in announcing those membership changes – alienating huge swaths of their longtime and traditional volunteers and supporters for no good reason.
Abandoning one of the best-known brand names in American culture in pursuit of "inclusivity" is unlikely to do any better at stimulating growth than letting gay kids and girls in did. I mean, the church denominations that are shrinking the fastest (Methodists, Episcopalians, United Church of Christ) are the ones that are loudest in proclaiming how inclusive and welcoming they are. The more traditional branches that the national media loves to hate – the Mormons and Catholics – are doing far better.
What set the Boy Scouts program apart was that being youth-led was built into not only its culture, but into its programming and curriculum. Once you bridge out of Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts (or Venturing or Sea Scouts), all the meetings, outings, advancement, training, etc., are organized and run by the kids. Adults are always there to supervise – but they’re only supposed to intervene when issues of safety arise. If the kids don’t meal plan enough food for a weekend camping trip – guess what? They’ll go hungry on Sunday, and next time they’ll bring enough food.
There simply is no other program that allows teenagers to learn leadership in a practical, hands-on yet safe environment. All my kids played sports, too, but it’s just not the same as a 15-year-old leading a backpacking expedition through the High Sierras.
I hope I’m proven wrong, that outside of the dumb name change the organization leaves its programming and curriculum in place, that more families discover the program, and that millions more kids have the experiences my family has had through Scouting.
But when your official announcement of the name change makes no mention of duty or service – core values of Scouting – but of making all families feel "welcome," I fear the organization has lost its way.
Confirmed: It isn't typically this hot in SWFL this time of year
- Paul B. lives right down the road from my dad's winter trailer and says, for May, it's sweltering on the west coast:
I was just saying yesterday, "damn it's hot out it's an early summer heat". Matt Devitt and Wink weather is my go to but I only pay attention when a hurricane is out there. It was a rainy winter and the water levels are just starting to normalize about a month late and the heat is about a month early so the bass fishing sucks.
Yes, Dale is back into his closer role
- Rob in NJ says:
Checking back here to say that it’s been pretty cool to see Dale back closing out Screencaps over the past few weeks. While retiring him was a good move, and the closers have been tremendous ever since, something about the 3 wrapping up America’s Best Daily Column just has me even more ready to attack the day.
Appreciate all you do for Screencaps, and love how the community continues to grow and thrive. Keep doing hard things!
Kinsey:
After testing a rotating cast of closers, it just feels wrong. Dale is forever the closer.
Brunch
- Glyn writes:
While I do enjoy a good bloody Mary and the wife a mimosa we do brunch sometimes. Generally to hang out with friends and or family and no one has to cook!
We have done brunch at home and spilt up the cooking duties several times. I always have a breakfast snack before.
Kinsey:
The difference between elitists doing brunch and Glyn in Tennessee doing brunch is that Glyn isn't doing brunch to be an elitist. I've seen Glyn's Club Cadet mower. This guy isn't doing brunch like the East Coast and West Coast elites.
I could see Glyn throwing a couple of fried eggs over a burger for brunch with a side of Texas toast and maybe a side waffle, a drizzle of syrup, maybe some potatoes.
Now we're talking! Is that brunch?
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That's it. We're ready to roll on this Friday. The sun is out. The weather forecast for Opening Day seems to have changed for the better and it looks like we might play ball tomorrow.
Have an incredible Mother's Day weekend. My mother is coming up from Florida for Opening Day, so it should be a full weekend here in Perrysburg.
Take care.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com